How big is too big?

No laughing… this is about page size of your website.  “How big is too big… for my page?“… yes.

Think of it this way, if you wanted someone to email you some information about their company, would you expect a document of maybe 500kb, 2mb, maybe 5mb for a big brochure – or would you want an enormous 20-35mb document that won’t even send through their email system?

People forget about the size of their webpage – designers do too!

It’s a long question, but it’s the result of websites we are finding quite often now.  People just don’t think about it, and why would they?  With Fibre and Broadband speeds the way they are, you have a website built and you see that it downloads.  You don’t consider how long it takes to download, nor what search engines consider when scanning your website.

Why is a big website page size bad?

Google (and others of course) consider that a website page is paramount to customer experience.  If you are on a 3G connection and you are downloading a 30mb page, it will take a long time.  Think about your customer – do you want them to be waiting and waiting for your page to load.  Images to load up one by one… 20, 30 or so images, all loading up.  It’s not a good time to have.

Even if your server is ‘lightning fast’ and your clients are on a Fibre 200mb speed – Google will see your page might be 10-30mb, and it’s considered bad.  If you have a page that is that size – it needs sorting!  Google will never appreciate it.

How do I test the size of my page?

Really easy.  Visit https://gtmetrix.com.  Enter your website address, and Analyze.  It will take a minute to maybe more, and at the end you will see a report. In big numbers at the top will be the page size.  What’s yours?

Here is an example of a really good page score on GT Metrix, so you can see what to expect.

Screengrab from GTMetrix following a website scan

You can see that pretty much everything is green.  The PageSpeed Score (this should be between 70-98%).  100% would be lovely, but needs a virtually empty page to do that!  The other bits to look at are: Total Page Size.

We have come across web pages that are 20-30mb+, and it’s frankly crazy.  If you care nothing for SEO, and don’t want to be found thru a search, it’s fine, though you are still asking your readers to download a huge page.

‘Optimise Images’, means it can see your images are all fully optimised.  Even if you edit them in Photoshop and upload to your site, they might not be deemed as ‘optimised’.  An effective plugin on a CMS will handle this for you.

Is there a test for Google?

Google has it’s own Page Speed test called ‘Google Page Speed Insights’.  Again, it is free, and you just pop in your website address and away it goes.

Click here to visit Google Page Speed Insights.

It runs tests that GTMetrix does not, such as the time it takes for the ‘first bit of data’ to come through.  It will give you various bits of information, including TWO key figures: one for Desktop and one for Mobile.

The magic numbers that are accessible by most site are 45-75% for Mobile and 75-98% for Desktop.

We understand and agree that if you have a business you need to be on the web.  If you are in Lincolnshire, contact us to get your business on the web.  We are here to get your website created online, with the most precise SEO and technical expertise to keep your business working perfect for your customers on their phones and PCs.

What is a good size website page?

Great question we feel, and the answer is…. low.  We have had ecommerce pages with banners and promos that are under 3.5mb.  But also pages around 4.5mb.  This we feel is acceptable.  We have website pages on our site that are under 2mb, and they rank extremely well, but the problem is, what if your page is a GALLERY.

The bulk of the site of a Gallery page is in the images, but a good website will show “thumbnail” images, and then the full size when you click on them.  Otherwise, if each images is 300kb – 2mb, and you have 10 – 20 images, then your page size will be sky high.  We have very smart SEO methods for preventing it all from downloading at one time though.  So if your page ‘totals’ 15mb, it doesn’t mean the user is downloading that at the start!

This is all stuff to think about when creating a page… but then there is one final BIG QUESTION…

How do I fix my website if it is in the ‘bad’ region of these figures?

The best method is to contact us.  Visit our Contact page and tell us about your website – or go to our Website Audit page.  Then we can run some tests, including those above, and come up with a solution.

Indeed we just recently started a website for a Photographer.  His Gallery page was 29mb with a Page Score of around 17.  After we did our magic in WordPress, it is now a Page Score of 96%, and the page comes in at 1.17mb.  Same images.  Same size.  Just must SMARTER coding!

WordPress Support Services

If you aren’t sure or you need help with your WordPress website, get in touch with us.  We can help with it on your system, or can migrate and provide WordPress Support for your business to keep it on track!